“Thank You, God Bless You and God Bless America”

When Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill made speeches, they’d just stop talking. They’d build to a finish, and you’d have a feeling it was over . . . and then, when they didn’t keep talking, you’d KNOW it was over. Same with Kennedy’s great inaugural address, 50 years ago this week.

Ronald Reagan seems to have started this with his Farewell address: “And so, goodbye, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.” Maybe in a farewell address this seemed to make sense. But now this political benediction has become a ridiculous tick that allows, incidentally, for bad speech writing. No matter how bad it has been up to then, if you add the benediction, it sounds like you’ve been building to a crescendo the whole time. This was the case, for example, with John McCain’s acceptance speech at the 08 convention.

At this point, if a politician DOESN’T say it, it might get him into trouble — it might announce him as a secularist or something.